GIULIO ROMANO
PAINTER
Second Part

Vasari's Lives of the Artists

After passing the great loggia, which is adorned with stucco-work and with many arms and various
other bizarre ornaments, one comes to some rooms filled with such a variety of fantasies, that the
brain reels at the thought of them. For Giulio, who was very fanciful and ingenious, wishing to
demonstrate his worth, resolved to make, at an angle of the palace which formed a corner similar to
that of the room of Psyche described above, an apartment the masonry of which should be in keeping
with the painting, in order to deceive as much as possible all who might see it. He therefore had
double foundations of great depth sunk at that corner, which was in a marshy place, and over that angle
he constructed a large round room, with very thick walls, to the end that the four external angles of
the masonry might be strong enough to be able to support a double vault, round after the manner of an
oven. This done, he caused to be built at the corners right round the room, in the proper places, the
doors, windows, and fireplace, all of rustic stones rough-hewn as if by chance, and, as it were,
disjointed and awry, insomuch that they appeared to be really hanging over to one side and falling down.
Having built this room in such strange fashion, he set himself to paint in it the most fantastic
composition that he was able to invent--namely, Jove hurling his thunderbolts against the Giants. And
so, depicting Heaven on the highest part of the vaulting, he placed there the throne of Jove,
representing it as seen in foreshortening from below and from the front, within a round temple,
supported by open columns of the Ionic Order, with his canopy over the center of the throne, and with
his eagle; and all was poised upon the clouds. Lower down he painted Jove in anger, slaying the proud
Giants with his thunderbolts, and below him is Juno, assisting him; and around them are the Winds,
with strange countenances, blowing towards the earth, while the Goddess Ops turns with her lions at
the terrible noise of the thunder, as also do the other Gods and Goddesses, and Venus in particular,
who is at the side of Mars; and Momus, with his arms outstretched, appears to fear that Heaven may be
falling headlong down, and yet he stands motionless. The Graces, likewise, are standing filled with
dread, and beside them, in like manner, the Hours.

All the Deities, in short, are taking to flight
with their chariots. The Moon, Saturn, and Janus are going towards the lightest of the clouds, in
order to withdraw from that terrible uproar and turmoil, and the same does Neptune, who, with his
dolphins, appears to be seeking to support himself on his trident. Pallas, with the nine Muses,
stands wondering what horrible thing this may be, and Pan, embracing a Nymph who is trembling
with fear, seems to wish to save her from the glowing fires and the lightning-flashes with which the
heavens are filled. Apollo stands in the chariot of the sun, and some of the Hours seem to be seeking
to restrain the course of his horses. Bacchus and Silenus, with Satyrs and Nymphs, betray the greatest
terror, and Vulcan, with his ponderous hammer on one shoulder, gazes towards Hercules, who is speaking
of this event with Mercury, beside whom is Pomona all in dismay, as are also Vertumnus and all the
other Gods dispersed throughout that Heaven, in which all the effects of fear are so well expressed,
both in those who are standing and in those who are flying, that it is not possible, I do not say to
see, but even to imagine a more beautiful fantasy in painting than this one.

In the parts below, that is, on the walls that stand upright, underneath the end of the curve of
the vaulting, are the Giants, some of whom, those below Jove, have upon their backs mountains and
immense rocks which they support with their stout shoulders, in order to pile them up and thus ascend
to Heaven, while their ruin is preparing, for Jove is thundering and the whole Heaven burning with
anger against them; and it appears not only that the Gods are dismayed by the presumptuous boldness
of the Giants, upon whom they are hurling mountains, but that the whole world is upside down and, as
it were, come to its last day. In this part Giulio painted Briareus in a dark cavern, almost covered
with vast fragments of mountains, and the other Giants all crushed and some dead beneath the ruins
of the mountains. Besides this, through an opening in the darkness of a grotto, which reveals a distant
landscape painted with beautiful judgment, may be seen many Giants flying, all smitten by the
thunderbolts of Jove, and, as it were, on the point of being overwhelmed at that moment by the
fragments of the mountains, like the others. In another part Giulio depicted other Giants, upon whom
are falling temples, columns, and other pieces of buildings, making a vast slaughter and havoc of those
proud beings. And in this part, among those falling fragments of buildings, stands the fireplace of the
room, which, when there is a fire in it, makes it appear as if the Giants are burning, for Pluto is
painted there, flying towards the center with his chariot drawn by lean horses, and accompanied
by the Furies of Hell; and thus Giulio, not departing from the subject of the story with this invention
of the fire, made a most beautiful adornment for the fireplace.

In this work, moreover, in order to render it the more fearsome and terrible, Giulio represented the
Giants, huge and fantastic in aspect, falling to the earth, smitten in various ways by the lightnings
and thunderbolts; some in the foreground and others in the background, some dead, others wounded, and
others again covered by mountains and the ruins of buildings. Wherefore let no one ever think to see
any work of the brush more horrible and terrifying, or more natural than this one; and whoever enters
that room and sees the windows, doors, and other suchlike things all awry and, as it were, on the point
of falling, and the mountains and buildings hurtling down, cannot but fear that everything will fall
upon him, and, above all, as he sees the Gods in the Heaven rushing, some here, some there, and all in
flight. And what is most marvellous in the work is to see that the whole of the painting has neither
beginning nor end, but is so well joined and connected together, without any divisions or ornamental
partitions, that the things which are near the buildings appear very large, and those in the distance,
where the landscapes are, go on receding into infinity; whence that room, which is not more than
fifteen braccia in length, has the appearance of open country. Moreover, the pavement being of small
round stones set on edge, and the lower part of the upright walls being painted with similar stones,
there is no sharp angle to be seen, and that level surface has the effect of a vast expanse, which was
executed with much judgment and beautiful art by Giulio, to whom our craftsmen are much indebted for
such inventions.

In this work the above-mentioned Rinaldo Mantovano became a perfect colorist, for he carried the
whole of it into execution after the cartoons of Giulio, as well as the other rooms. And if this
painter had not been snatched from the world so young, even as he did honor to Giulio during his
lifetime, so he would have done honor (to himself) after Giulio's death.

In addition to this palace, in which Giulio executed many other works worthy to be praised, of
which, in order to avoid prolixity, I shall say nothing, he reconstructed with masonry many rooms in
the castle where the Duke lives at Mantua, and made two very large spiral staircases, with very rich
apartments adorned all over with stucco. In one hall he caused the whole of the story of Troy and the
Trojan War to be painted, and likewise twelve scenes in oils in an antechamber, below the heads of the
twelve Emperors previously painted there by Tiziano Vecelli, which are all held to be excellent. In
like manner, at Marmirolo, a place five miles distant from Mantua, a most commodious building was
erected after the design of Giulio and under his direction, with large paintings no less beautiful
than those of the castle and of the palace of the TŹ. The same master painted an altar-piece in oils
for the Chapel of Signora Isabella Buschetta in S. Andrea at Mantua, of Our Lady in the act of adoring
the Infant Jesus, who is lying on the ground, with S. Joseph, the ass and the ox near a manger, and on
one side S. John the Evangelist, and S. Longinus on the other, figures of the size of life. Next, on
the walls of the same chapel, he caused Rinaldo to paint two very beautiful scenes after his own
designs; on one, the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, with the Thieves, some Angels in the air, and on
the ground the ministers of the Crucifixion and the Maries, with many horses, in which he always
delighted, making them beautiful to a marvel, and many soldiers in various attitudes; and, on the other,
the scene when the Blood of Christ was discovered in the time of the Countess Matilda, which was a most
beautiful work.

Giulio then painted with his own hand for Duke Federigo a picture of Our Lady washing the little
Jesus Christ, who is standing in a basin, while a little S. John is pouring out the water from a vase.
Both of these figures, which are of the size of life, are very beautiful; and in the distance are small
figures, from the waist upwards, of some ladies who are coming to visit the Madonna. This picture was
afterwards presented by the Duke to Signora Isabella Buschetta, of which lady Giulio subsequently made
a most beautiful portrait in a little picture of the Nativity of Christ, one braccio in height, which
is now in the possession of Signor Vespasiano Gonzaga, together with another picture presented to him
by Duke Federigo, and likewise by the hand of Giulio, in which are a young man and a young woman
embracing each other on a bed, in the act of caressing one another, while an old woman peeps at them
secretly from behind a door--figures which are little less than life-size, and very graceful. In the
house of the same person is another very excellent picture of a most beautiful S. Jerome, also by the
hand of Giulio. And in the possession of Count Niccola Maffei is a picture of Alexander the Great, of
the size of life, with a Victory in his hand, copied from an ancient medal, which is a work of great
beauty.

After these works, Giulio painted in fresco over a chimney-piece, for M. Girolamo, the organist of
the Duomo at Mantua, who was very much his friend, a Vulcan who is working his bellows with one hand
and holding with the other, with a pair of tongs, the iron head of an arrow that he is forging, while
Venus is tempering in a vase some already made and placing them in Cupid's quiver. This is one of the
most beautiful works that Giulio ever executed; and there is little else in fresco by his hand to be
seen. For S. Domenico, at the commission of M. Lodovico da Fermo, he painted an altarpiece of the
Dead Christ, whom Joseph and Nicodemus are preparing to lay in the sepulchre, and near them are His
Mother, the other Maries, and S. John the Evangelist. And a little picture, in which he also painted a
Dead Christ, is in the house of the Florentine Tommaso da Empoli at Venice.

At the same time when he was executing these and other pictures, it happened that Signor Giovanni
de' Medici, having been wounded by a musket-ball, was carried to Mantua, where he died. Whereupon M.
Pietro Aretino, who was the devoted servant of that lord, and very much the friend of Giulio, desired
that Giulio should mould a likeness of him with his own hand as he lay dead; and he, therefore, having
taken a cast from the face of the dead man, executed a portrait from it, which remained for many years
afterwards in the possession of the same Aretino.

For the entry of the Emperor Charles V into Mantua, Giulio, by order of the Duke, made many most
beautiful festive preparations in the form of arches, scenery for dramas, and a number of other things;
in which inventions Giulio had no equal, nor was there ever any man more fanciful in preparing
masquerades and in designing extravagant costumes for jousts, festivals, and tournaments, as was seen
at that time with amazement and marvel by the Emperor Charles and by all who were present. Besides
this, at different times he gave so many designs for chapels, houses, gardens, and faŤades throughout
the whole of Mantua, and he so delighted to embellish and adorn the city, that, whereas it was formerly
buried in mud and at times full of stinking water and almost uninhabitable, he brought it to such a
condition that at the present day, thanks to his industry, it is dry, healthy, and altogether pleasing
and delightful.

While Giulio was in the service of that Duke, one year the Po, bursting its banks, inundated Mantua
in such a manner, that in certain low-lying parts of the city the water rose to the height of nearly
four braccia, insomuch that for a long time frogs lived in them almost all the year round. Giulio,
therefore, after pondering in what way he might put this right, so went to work that for the time
being the city was restored to its former condition; and to the end that the same might not happen
another time, he contrived to have the streets on that side raised so much, by command of the Duke,
that they came above the level of the water, and the buildings stood in safety. In that part of the
city the houses were small, slightly built, and of no great importance, and he gave orders that they
should be pulled down, in order to raise the streets and bring that quarter to a better state, and that
new houses, larger and more beautiful, should be built there, to the advantage and improvement of the
city. To this measure many opposed themselves, saying to the Duke that Giulio was doing too much havoc;
but he would not hear any of them--nay, he made Giulio superintendent of the streets at that very time,
and decreed that no one should build in that city save under Giulio's direction. On which account many
complaining and some even threatening Giulio, this came to the ears of the Duke, who used such words
in his favor as made it known that if they did anything to the despite or injury of Giulio, he would
count it as done to himself, and would make an example of them.

The Duke was so enamoured of the excellence of Giulio, that he could not live without him; and
Giulio, on his part, bore to that lord the greatest reverence that it is possible to imagine. Wherefore
he never asked a favor for himself or for others without obtaining it, and when he died it was found
that with all that he had received from the Duke he had an income of more than a thousand ducats.

Giulio built a house for himself in Mantua, opposite to S. Barnaba, on the outer side of which he
made a fantastic facade, all wrought with colored stucco, and the interior he caused to be all painted
and wrought likewise with stucco; and he found place in it for many antiquities brought from Rome and
others received from the Duke, to whom he gave many of his own. He made so many designs both for Mantua
and for places in its neighborhood, that it was a thing incredible; for, as has been told, no palaces
or other buildings of importance could be erected, particularly in the city, save after his design. He
rebuilt upon the old walls the Church of S. Benedetto, a rich and vast seat of Black Friars at Mantua,
near the Po; and the whole church was embellished with most beautiful paintings and altarpieces from
designs by his hand. And since his works were very highly prized throughout Lombardy, it pleased Gian
Matteo Giberti, Bishop of Verona, to have the tribune of the Duomo of that city all painted, as has
been related in another place, by Il Moro the Veronese, after designs by Giulio. For the Duke of
Ferrara, also, he executed many designs for tapestries, which were afterwards woven in silk and gold
by Maestro Niccolo' and Giovan Battista Rosso, both Flemings; and of these there are engravings to be
seen, executed by Giovan Battista Mantovano, who engraved a vast number of things drawn by Giulio, and
in particular, besides three drawings of battles engraved by others, a physician who is applying
cupping-glasses to the shoulders of a woman, and the Flight of Our Lady into Egypt, with Joseph holding
the ass by the halter, and some Angels bending down a date palm in order that Christ may pluck the
fruit. The same master engraved, also after the designs of Giulio, the Wolf on the Tiber suckling
Romulus and Remus, and four stories of Pluto, Jove and Neptune, who are dividing the heavens, the
earth, and the sea among them by lot; and likewise the goat Amaltheia, which, held by Melissa,
is giving suck to Jove, and a large plate of many men in a prison, tortured in various ways. There were
also printed, after the inventions of Giulio, Scipio and Hannibal holding a parley with their armies
on the banks of the river; the Nativity of S. John the Baptist, which was engraved by Sebastiano da
Reggio, and many other works engraved and printed in Italy. In Flanders and in France, likewise, have
been printed innumerable sheets from designs by Giulio, of which, although they are very beautiful,
there is no need to make mention, nor of all his drawings, seeing that he made them, so to speak, in
loads. Let it be enough to say that he was so facile in every field of art, and particularly in drawing,
that we have no record of any one who has produced more than he did.

Giulio, who was very versatile, was able to discourse on every subject, but above all on medals,
upon which he spent large sums of money and much time, in order to gain knowledge of them. And although
he was employed almost always in great works, this did not mean that he would not set his hand at times
to the most trifling matters in order to oblige his patron and his friends; and no sooner had one
opened his mouth to explain to him his conception than he had understood it and drawn it. Among the
many rare things that he had in his house was the portrait from life of Albrecht Dźrer on a piece of
fine Rheims cloth, by the hand of Albrecht himself, who sent it, as has been related in another place,
as a present to Raffaello da Urbino. This portrait was an exquisite thing, for it had been colored in
gouache with much diligence with watercolors, and Albrecht had executed it without using lead white,
availing himself in its stead of the white of the cloth, with the delicate threads of which he had so
well rendered the hairs of the beard, that it was a thing scarcely possible to imagine, much less to do;
and when held up to the light it showed through on either side. This portrait, which was very dear to
Giulio, he showed to me himself as a miracle, when I went during his lifetime to Mantua on some affairs
of my own.

At the death of Duke Federigo, by whom Giulio had been beloved beyond belief, he was so overcome
with sorrow, that he would have left Mantua, if the Cardinal, the brother of the Duke, on whom the
government of the State had descended because the sons of Federigo were very young, had not detained
him in that city, where he had a wife and children, houses, villas, and all the other possessions that
are proper to a gentleman of means. And this the Cardinal did (aided by those reasons) from a wish to
avail himself of the advice and assistance of Giulio in renovating, or rather building almost entirely
anew, the Duomo of that city; to which work Giulio set his hand, and carried it well on in a very
beautiful form.

At this time Giorgio Vasari, who was much the friend of Giulio, although they did not know one
another save only by reputation and by letters, in going to Venice, took the road by Mantua, in order
to see Giulio and his works. And so, having arrived in that city, and going to find his friend, when
they met, although they had never seen each other, they knew one another no less surely than if they
had been together in person a thousand times. At which Giulio was so filled with joy and contentment,
that for four days he never left him, showing him all his works, and in particular all the groundplans
of the ancient edifices in Rome, Naples, Pozzuolo, and Campania, and of all the other fine antiquities
of which anything is known, drawn partly by him and partly by others. Then, opening a very large press,
he showed to Giorgio the groundplans of all the buildings that had been erected after his designs and
under his direction, not only in Mantua and in Rome, but throughout all Lombardy, which were so
beautiful, that I, for my part, do not believe that there are to be seen any architectural inventions
more original, more lovely, or better composed. After this, the Cardinal asking Giorgio what he thought
of the works of Giulio, Giorgio answered in the presence of Giulio that they were such that he deserved
to have a statue of himself placed at every corner of the city, and that, since he had given that city
a new life, the half of the State would not be a sufficient reward for the labours and abilities of
Giulio; to which the Cardinal answered that Giulio was more the master of that State than he was himself.
And since Giulio was very loving, especially towards his friends, there was no mark of love and
affection that Giorgio did not receive from him. The same Vasari, having left Mantua and gone to Venice,
returned to Rome at the very time when Michelagnolo had just uncovered his Last Judgment in the Chapel;
and he sent to Giulio by M. Nino Nini of Cortona, the secretary of the aforesaid Cardinal of Mantua,
three sheets containing the Seven Mortal Sins, copied from that Last Judgment of Michelagnolo, which
were welcome in no ordinary manner to Giulio, both as being what they were, and because he had at that
time to paint a chapel in the palace for the Cardinal, and they served to inspire him to greater
things than those that he had in mind. Putting forward all possible effort, therefore, to make a most
beautiful cartoon, he drew in it with fine fancy the scene of Peter and Andrew leaving their nets at
the call of Christ, in order to follow Him, and to be thenceforward, not fishers of fishes, but fishers
of men. And this cartoon, which proved to be the most beautiful that Giulio had ever made, was
afterwards carried into execution by the painter Fermo Ghisoni, a pupil of Giulio, and now an excellent
master.

Not long afterwards the superintendents of the building of S. Petronio at Bologna, being desirous to
make a beginning with the facade of that church, succeeded after great difficulty in inducing Giulio to
go there, in company with a Milanese architect called Tofano Lombardino, a man in great repute at that
time in Lombardy for the many buildings by his hand that were to be seen in that country. These masters,
then, made many designs, those of Baldassarre Peruzzi of Siena having been lost; and one that Giulio
made, among others, was so beautiful and so well ordered, that he rightly received very great praise
for it from that people, and was rewarded with most liberal gifts on his return to Mantua.

Meanwhile, Antonio da San Gallo having died at Rome about that time, the superintendents of the
building of S. Pietro had been thereby left in no little embarrassment, not knowing to whom to turn or
on whom to lay the charge of carrying that great fabric to completion after the plan already begun; but
they thought that no one could be more fitted for this than Giulio Romano, for they all knew how great
were his worth and excellence. And so, surmising that he would accept such a charge more than willingly
in order to repatriate himself in an honorable manner and with a good salary, they caused some of his
friends to approach him, but in vain, for the reason that, although he would have gone with the
greatest willingness, two things prevented him--the Cardinal would in no way consent to his departure,
and his wife, with her relatives and friends, used every possible means to dissuade him. Neither of
these two reasons, perchance, would have prevailed with him, if he had not happened to be in somewhat
feeble health at that time; for, having considered how much honor and profit he might secure for
himself and his children by accepting so handsome a proposal, he was already fully disposed to make
every effort not to be hindered in the matter by the Cardinal, when his malady began to grow worse.
However, since it had been ordained on high that he should go no more to Rome, and that this should
be the end and conclusion of his life, in a few days, what with his vexation and his malady, he died
at Mantua, which city might well have allowed him, even as he had embellished her, so also to honor and
adorn his native city of Rome.

Giulio died at the age of fifty-four, leaving only one male child, to whom he had given the name of
Raffaello out of regard for the memory of his master. This young Raffaello had scarcely learned the
first rudiments of art, showing signs of being destined to become an able master, when he also died,
not many years after, together with his mother, Giulio's wife; wherefore there remained no descendant
of Giulio save a daughter called Virginia, who still lives in Mantua, married to Ercole Malatesta.
Giulio, whose death was an infinite grief to all who knew him, was given burial in S. Barnaba, where
it was proposed that some honorable memorial should be erected to him; but his wife and children,
postponing the matter from one day to another, themselves died for the most part without doing anything.
It is indeed a sad thing that there has been no one who has treasured in any way the memory of a man
who did so much to adorn that city, save only those who availed themselves of his services, who have
often remembered him in their necessities. But his own talent, which did him so much honor in his
lifetime, has secured for him after death, in the form of his own works, an everlasting monument which
time, with all its years, can never destroy.

Giulio was neither tall nor short of stature, and rather stout than slight in build. He had black
hair, beautiful features, and eyes dark and merry, and he was very loving, regular in all his actions,
and frugal in eating, but fond of dressing and living in honorable fashion. He had disciples in plenty,
but the best were Giovanni da Lione, Raffaello dal Colle of Borgo, Benedetto Pagni
of Pescia, Figurino da Faenza, Rinaldo Mantovano, Giovan Battista Mantovano, and
Fermo Ghisoni, who still lives in Mantua and does him honor, being an excellent painter. And the
same may be said for Benedetto, who has executed many works in his native city of Pescia, and an
altarpiece for the Duomo of Pisa, which is in the Office of Works, and also a picture of Our Lady in
which, with a poetical invention full of grace and beauty, he painted a figure of Florence presenting to
her the dignities of the House of Medici; which picture is now in the possession of Signor Mondragone,
a Spaniard much in favor with that most illustrious lord the Prince of Florence.

Giulio died on the day of All Saints in the year 1546, and over his tomb was placed the following
epitaph: